"You are both idiots!" A man in his early thirties said as he threw his glass full of wine down on the ground.
"How could we have known that father was going to save them?" Owain asked as he shouted at his eldest brother, Edward.
Edward combed his fingers through his trademark Cruro raven black hair as he held in his anger. Owain was much younger, he needed patience with this brother of his.
It might be years until his father passed and he could take the throne, after all, the last king had died when their father was in his late thirties.
"And what's your excuse?" Edward asked his second brother, Zeph as the man remained silent as he waited for Edward to call him out.
Of all his siblings he respected Zeph the most, he also saw him as his biggest threat. He knew that when the time came, Zeph would be the first he would need to kill.
"The timing was right, we thought father had some state affairs to attend to." Zeph responded calmly, not showing any sign of regret.
Proof of the difference between Zeph and Owain couldn't be more evident. While Owain came up with excuses, Zeph gave him a reason for their attack.
Edward had already seen his father weakening, he knew that it wouldn't be too long now until the King finally passed. He used Zeph's and Owain's anger at Nicholas to get them to put him and possibly Marcus in a coma.
He didn't want to have the two youngest boys struggle, their lives would be short and planned for them to end in a kinder way. Hopefully in bed where he would simply slit their throats.
Theirs would be the easiest lives to take, neither having reached their full potential as mages yet. It also helped that Nicholas was a Corporali mage, unable to use magic as a weapon in any way.
"You both know that father favors Nicholas." Edward remarked as he recalled the story his spies had told him about the fight between his brothers that erupted in the hallway. "Father will always have someone watching Nicholas."
"And yet father did not know about Nicholas being unconscious for days!" Owain argued. "He ate up every reason that stupid chief minister Dion had to give about Nicholas being unwell. All our spies reported the same thing."
"Father may have known." Zeph said as he drank from his own flask of wine.
Edward observed how Zeph never accepted any drink coming from him or Owain, he was wary, he was right to be. Zeph could easily have his people concoct a potion that would render all of them powerless should they ingest it.
The only ones stupid enough to take whatever Owain offered were Nicholas and Marcus, both too young and too trusting.
"And yet he said nothing?!" Owain was furious that Zeph was not siding with him on the matter.
"What benefit would he get from announcing that Nicholas was in a coma?" Edward asked his brother. On this one, he agreed with Zeph, there was a chance their father had known.
"Owain, your spies need to listen better." Zeph chuckled as he took another drink from his flask, mocking Owain. "Anti-royalists are already saying that father broke the succession, that the Cruor line is weakening because he has a son like Nicholas."
"Love has no place in Cruor King's rule." Edward added, nodding in agreement. "Cruror blood is cursed, we have power but we will never be loved."
"That's a bunch of old wives' tales and you know it!" Owain scoffed at his elder brothers. "And here I thought you two might be smarter than me.
"Smarter, stronger, better." Edward told Owain confidently.
"You are lucky I can't kill you before father passes, or I would have struck you where you stand." Owain hissed as he balled his hands into fists and it began to glow with blue cursor magic.
"You wouldn't even be able to land a blow." Zeph laughed at how silly Owain sounded. "Know which battles to fight, Owain."
"Listen to your older brothers, kid, you might last longer." Edward added, much to Owain's anger.
The youngest of the three quickly stood up and marched towards the door.
"No one is to find out about our plan to weaken Nicholas." Edward reminded him as his hand touched the door.
"Do you take me to be such a fool?" Owain asked Edward. "I know what the consequences would be if people found out."
With that Owain walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
"I'm killing him first." Zeph casually remarked as he threw a knife directly at the door that Owain had just walked out of.
"I'd watch your back with that one, Zeph." Edward told his brother. "We both know that Owain might not be the smartest among us, but his mother could change the tide."
"It's him that needs to strike the final blow, not his mother." Zeph reminded Edward before finally getting up from his seat and plucking his knife from the door. "I'll be coming after your head too, brother."
"I expect nothing else, Zeph." Edward knew that despite their temporary truce, being sons of the king meant that they were enemies in the end.
"I'll see you at our father's council meeting then. He invited me to join this time." Zeph said with a victorious smile as he left Edward alone in his library, alone, unhappy with Zeph's parting words.